1990s After graduating from
ESCAC he began his career directing commercials and music videos. At the age of 20, he signed his first contract as audiovisual producer for the Spanish band
OBK. After three years working with them, he was awarded the
Premios Ondas for the music video "Tú sigue así". Since then, he has become the principal director of the group
Camela and was commissioned to illustrate the piece "Cómo repartimos los amigos", in which the duo
Ella Baila Sola bid farewell to their audience. He has also directed music videos for
Pastora Soler ("En mi soledad"),
Fangoria,
Nena Daconte ("El Aleph"),
Enrique Bunbury and Miren Iza ("Frente a frente"), in which the original singer
Jeanette appears at the end of the video. In 2012 he created the music video for "
Disconnected" by the British band
Keane. In 1999 he directed the short film
My Holidays and in 2002
The Spongeman.
2000s and
Guillermo del Toro presenting
The Orphanage in Paris in 2008 In 2004 Bayona met writer
Sergio G. Sánchez, who was working on the short
7337. Sánchez offered Bayona the script for
The Orphanage. In order to create the film he wanted, Bayona had to double both the film's budget and its runtime. He was assisted by
Guillermo del Toro, who offered to co-produce it.
The Orphanage premiered on 20 May 2007, at the Cannes International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation lasting more than ten minutes. Months later, on 11 October 2007, it premiered in Spanish cinemas and grossed $8.3 million. Bayona was awarded the
Goya Award for Best New Director in 2008. The film was nominated for 14 categories of Goyas, and won 7. In October of that same year,
Variety announced that
Universal Studios had signed a contract with Bayona to adapt the film
Hater by
David Moody, written by
Glen Mazzara and produced by
Guillermo del Toro. Bayona was one of the many candidates considered to direct
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse but was not interested in making the film.
2010s In August 2010 he began filming
The Impossible, based on the experiences of a Spanish family that lived through the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Filmed in English and starring
Ewan McGregor,
Naomi Watts and
Tom Holland, the film was released on 11 October 2012, to positive critical response. In its first weekend it grossed $8.6 million, breaking the record for the best opening in the history of the Spanish box office.
The Impossible was nominated for the
Oscar and
Golden Globe Awards in the category of Best Actress for the interpretation of
Naomi Watts. The film was also nominated in 14 categories at the
Goya Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor (
Tom Holland), of which it won five awards. In 2013
The Impossible received a
National Film Award in the framework of the 61st International Festival of San Sebastián. In March 2012 Bayona directed the music video "
Disconnected", the second single from the album
Strangeland by the British band
Keane. The band has stated that it admires Bayona's film work, and Bayona has said he follows the music of Keane. On 11 September 2016, Keane released a music video for an exclusive new song, "
Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the
fantasy drama film
A Monster Calls, directed by Bayona. The single was made available for digital download on 23 September 2016. Bayona was responsible for directing the first two episodes of the
Penny Dreadful series, created by
John Logan and originally released on
Showtime. Filmed in
Dublin, the series tells the story of a group consisting of a rich man, a medium, a gunman and a young doctor, all looking for the rich man's missing daughter. To do this, they must cope with strange beings and
Victorian era literary characters like
Frankenstein,
Dracula and
Dorian Gray. The series has a lot of its creator, according to Bayona. In 2014, Bayona began shooting the film
A Monster Calls, an adaptation of the novel by
Patrick Ness, starring
Lewis MacDougall,
Felicity Jones, and
Liam Neeson. The film, which was released in 2016, tells the story of a young boy (MacDougall) who cares for his mother (Jones), ill with cancer, while befriending a monster (Neeson). With this film, Bayona closed his personal trilogy about mother-child relationships. In 2018, Bayona next directed the science fiction sequel
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, starring
Chris Pratt,
Bryce Dallas Howard,
Justice Smith,
Rafe Spall,
Toby Jones and
James Cromwell. The film received mixed reviews from critics but Bayona's direction received praise. It was also a major commercial success, becoming the
third-highest-grossing film of 2018 and the
12th-highest-grossing film of all time.
2020s Bayona directed the first two episodes of the
Amazon Prime Video series
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, filmed in New Zealand from 3 February 2020 and premiered on 2 September 2022. In November 2021, it was announced Bayona would direct the disaster drama
Society of the Snow for
Netflix, based on the true story of
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed into the Andes in October 1972. The film was released theatrically to Spanish-speaking audiences in December 2023 before its arrival to Netflix on 4 January 2024. It received positive reviews and many honors. ==Filmography==